Everybody Needs a Backbone

Why ecumenical religion will never do.

By Ken Raggio

Imagine a human body without a skeleton!

What a horrendous thought. Without leg bones, arm bones, rib cage, spine or skull, a person would be reduced to a blob! Think about the changes it would make in every aspect of life. Without finger bones we could no longer handle the thousands of things we must handle in everyday routines. Without foot and leg bones, we could not walk or get around. Without a rib cage or skull the vital organs would be incapable of functioning properly and would be vulnerable to every simple injury. In a word, we would DIE without a skeleton. We simply could not live!

True doctrine is the backbone of the soul

In a spiritual way, that is the significance of TRUE DOCTRINE in the life of a Christian. In case you haven’t noticed, the overwhelming trend in religion is moving toward ecumenism, or worldwide unity among religions (including non-Christians). Roget’s Thesaurus gives these synonyms for ecumenism: "broadness, looseness, imprecision, inexactness, indiscrimination." Simply put, the religious impetus of this generation is toward inexactness!

Take a look for yourself and you will see religious bodies abandoning their ancient doctrinal beliefs. The Society of Jesuits were for centuries the "Pope’s men," unquestionably loyal to the Roman Catholic doctrine and papacy. Now they are abandoning the Roman church and becoming adversaries of the Pope, preaching every kind of social and political science.

Southern Baptists in America argue whether the Bible is the infallible word of God. All around the world, God’s Word is being abandoned for a new age of understanding. Atheism and agnosticism are no longer commodities of heathen alone, but have become the staple of religious leaders in virtually every denomination in the world.

Ecumenical religion has no backbone.

I will make it my business to continually restate and reaffirm the great doctrines of the Bible. Without them, we are subject and vulnerable to every whim of man. We cannot stand or move without doctrine. We cannot work or be profitable without doctrine. Doctrine is our feet and legs; it is our hands and arms, our rib cage, our skull. If we do not believe the Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God, then we have no backbone. If we do not believe there is but One God, and know who He is, we have no skull. To have NO DOCTRINE is to have NO LIFE.

Rejecting well-defined precepts is a prescription for anarchy

The Royal Society of London uses as its motto the words of the ancient poet, Horace (65-8 BC), "In the word of no master am I bound to believe." Any society that denies the mastery of ancient wisdom, particularly the Word of Almighty God, is begging for anarchy and perpetual chaos.

If any definition of God is acceptable, then no definition is legitimate!

If Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed are equal sons of God to Jesus Christ, then being a son of God is impertinent (as many would have us believe). Any time we refuse to believe in absolute values, we subject ourselves to the spiritual equivalent of AIDS: a body loses its resistance to harmful things. No thinking person can logically or rationally denounce the significance of right and wrong. Life must have explicit values of black and white. Everything cannot be gray.

The inspired, infallible Word of God is His structure for us.

God is a Spirit incarnate in the body of Jesus Christ. His name is Jesus. He created us, gave us His law, then provided a way for us to be redeemed from our transgression of it. His death, burial and resurrection are the basis of our salvation through repentance, baptism in His name, and regeneration by His Spirit.

He requires that no one may enter into the Kingdom of God without repentance and baptism in both water and Spirit. Those who obey are born into His body, the Church. They are called out from the world’s ways and vices to be holy, separate people. He promised to return to earth at the end of the age to resurrect the righteous dead, receive the righteous living into His presence, destroy the evil powers on earth, and set up an earthly government for 1,000 years. Afterward, He will form a new and eternal heaven and earth. These are irrefutable truths. I have a backbone.

SEE ALSO: DON'T LET THE LIGHTS GO OUT

SEE ALSO: HOLINESS: A PLACE APART FROM FORBIDDEN THINGS

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